Surface covering element



June 12, 1951 l||, G, GO5L|N 2,556,581

SURFACE COVERING ELEMENT Filed Jan. 7, 1947 Wzl-4 Herbert oslim.

Patented June 1.2, 1951 SURFACE oovEmNG ELEMENT Herbert Gr. Goslin,Augusta, Mich., assignor to Sherri-Goslin lCo., Battle Creek, Mich., `acorporation of Michigan Application January 7, 1947, Serial No. 720,622

4 Claims.

The present invention relates broadly to surface covering elements, andin its specic phases to relatively rigid shingles suitable for use asroofing or siding elements.

Asbestos-cement shingles which have a cement binder and are hard,relatively rigid, moderately resilient surface covering elements, havecome into wide-spread use as roofing, and more recently they have beenadapted to use as siding. While asphalt shingles sometimes have asbestosi'lbres in them, these shingles are made of exible stock which isrollable and may be cut to size as it continuously comes from themanufacturing apparatus, thus avoiding cutting waste, and utilizing amanufacturing procedure which is not adapted to asbestos-cementshingles. In the case of the latter the stock is commonly made in 24" x24" panels from which the shingles themselves are cut. In using thesepanels, the shingles may be cut in rectangular shape to form twoshingles without waste, but when laid in normal manner, the maximumexposure is six inches and beyond which there is no underlap for theside joints between shingles. In fact, considerably less than six inchesof exposure must be used if leakage at the side joints is to be avoidedby the shingles alone, even with siding where vertical laying isinvolved. The overcoming of this diiculty with maintenance of relativelywider exposures has been accomplished in the past by using narrow stripsof tar paper or roll roofing under the side joints between shingles. Oneway to avoid this need of understripping has been to out the shingleswith upward projecting tabs adapted to underlie the side joints. This inturn raises the problem of how to make all shingles uniform in size andshape, and at the same time avoid waste in cutting from the 24 X 24"panels. In my U. S. Patent No. 2,115,222, I set forth a tabbed shingleconstruction wherein four shingles were cut from a single panel ofstock. Of these shingles two had long tabs and two had short tabs foruse in laying in alternating wide and narrow exposure courses. Thepresent invention is a modification of that invention coupled with otherelements which produce a new combination having entirely newcapabilities.

Asbestos-cement shingles of present day designs are also prone to workloose and rattle, and to avoid this it has become rather common practiceto use exposed stainless steel nails, or cadrnium coated bronze nails toanchor the lower edge of the shingles lin place. Since it is almostimpossible to drive a nail through an unpunched asbestos shingle withouteither breaking the shingle or bending the nail, this in turn hasrequired either nailing above the head lap or punchl ing a second set ofmatching holes in the shingles to facilitate driving the nailssimultaneously through both the bottom holes in the top course ofshingles and these corresponding holes in the top of the underlyinglower course of shingles. The exposed extra nails thus used arerelatively expensive and these exposed nail holes must be calked ifleakage is to be avoided. It was a recognition of these and otherproblems and difiiculties in the surface covering art which led to theconception and development of the present invention.

Accordingly, among the objects of the present invention is the provisionof a way to cut identical size shingles, each having a multiple tabbededge, from a rectangular blank without cutting waste.

Another object is to provide a sheet with multiple curves such that whencut With tabs down the center, the resultant shingles will be ofidentical size, and when nailed in place on a flat surface, with thenails at points high enough up the shingle to be covered a shortdistance by the next higher course of shingles, the curvature will beflattened to a certain extent, and the butt edge of the shingle forciblyheld against the next lower course of shingles, thus resilientlyavoiding loosening and rattling, all without the need of exposednailing.

Another object is to provide inverse curved relatively rigid shingleshaving a straight lower edge, the curves facilitating nesting forshipping as well as when laid, avoiding loosening and rattling in use,and wherein the upper edge slides runner fashion on the roong papercommonly used under asbestos shingles, thus avoiding injury to the paperwhich might otherwise occur during nailing of the shingles.

Another object is to provide relatively rigid but resilient shingleswhich may be laid with greater exposure than usual, and thus cost lessper square to lay, while having tabs for use in underlapping the sidejoints of the next higher course of shingles when laid in conventionalmanner.

Another object is to cut a pair of relatively rigid but resilientshingles from a rectangular blank which has two longitudinal convexcurves joined by a concave curve, said convex curves being parallel andin the butt edge portion of each shingle, whereby the butt edge will bebound against the next lower course of shingles when o the former isanchored with nails which are normally high enough to be covered a shortdistance by the next higher course of shingles.

A further object is to provide the shingles with multiple tabs havingsloping side edges wherein one end of the shingle passes approximatelythrough the center of the sloping edge of one of the tabs, while theother end of the same shingle starts with a piece of tab the size ofthat missing from the edge of the tab at the opposite end of theshingle.

Still further objects and advantages will appear as the descriptionproceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention,then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularlypointed out in the claims, the annexed drawing and the followingdescription setting forth in detail certain means for carrying out theinvention, such disclosed .means illustrating, however, but one of thevarious ways in which the principle of the invention may be used.

In the annexed drawing:

Figure l shows a rectangular piece of shingle stock with a preferred tabcutting line shown.

Figure 2 shows an edge view of a preferred form of the shingle blankillustrated in Figure l.

Figure 3 shows an edge view as seen from the right hand side of FigureLl.

Figure 4 shows an assembly view of three shingles of the presentinvention laid in conventional manner.

Referring more particularly to Figures l and 2 of the drawing, it willbe noted that a standard size 24 x 24 shingle blank l has been shown cutdown its center to form two substantially equal size shingles 2, each ofwhich is two shingle units long, although the same shingle may be cutwith more than two shingle units, for instance, by cutting it with theequivalent of three full tabs and three hollows, a three unit lengthshingle will be formed, and it is intended that the showing beconsidered as diagrammatically illustrating same. Each of the shinglesillustrated has one full size tab 3, while the second tab terminates ina line perpendicular to the base of the shingle at approximately themidpoint of the tabs sloping edge furthest from full size tab 3. Partialtab 3b at the opposite edge of the shingle is approximately the samesize as the portion missing from the side of tab 3a and which would makeit full size the same as tab 3. Thus the full tab 3 and the partial tabs3a and 3b t0- gether with the two full size hollows therebetween producea shingle of two unit lengths, while the 24 x 24 blank produces two suchshingles. These shingles may be made from any suitable shingle stockwhich is relatively rigid and yet resilient, such as asbestos-cement,and plastics, as well as some types of glass and ceramics.

The particular method of making the shingles of the present inventionwill depend considerably upon the particular type of material to beused. For instance, if the shingles are to be made from plastic, thepanels may be either ,extruded or molded with the curvature in place asshown in Figure 2, while if the shingles are to be made fromasbestos-cement, the panel will be molded and allowed to harden beforeremoval from the mold. In the case of glass, they could be either moldedor formed on a suitable curved surface, following which the panel wouldbe allowed to cool and thus harden before removal. The panels in anycase may be made either to finished size,

4 or they may be made a little larger than nished size, and then trimmedas Well as cut to form the multiple tabs on the shingles.

Asbestos-cement shingles have always given trouble due to loosening andrattling in use, and to avoid that situation, which is especiallyprevalent when that type of shingle is used as siding, it has becomecommon practice to perforate the shingle along its bottom edge for nailsand to also suitably perforate it at higher elevations, so that whennailed to a wall, the bottom perforations of one shingle will match theupper perforations of the lower shingle in manner such that a nail ornails can be driven therethrough. In order to avoid Vthis exposednailing entirely, the shingle blank as shown in edge View in Figure 2,is preformed with two convex curves 5 and in its butt edges, and thesetwo curves in turn are preferably joined by a concave curve ll. Whilethe size of the convex curves may be varied over a considerable range,it has been found that if the convex curves on the under face oftheblank rise approximately three-eighths of an inch-above a plane joiningthe edges andcenter of the under face of the conventional thicknessasbestos shingle blank, this will meet practically all requirements,although it may be varied from this to meet Varying thicknesses ofblanks as well as varying compositions which have diiferent amounts ofresiliency, all without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Two sets of nail holes are provided in each shingle, which is two unitslong, preferably at the locations typically illustrated in Figure 4.These nail holes are at an elevation such that when the shingle isnailed in place and the next higher course nailed thereover, the nails 4in these nail holes will be completely. covered. This makes it possibleto use ordinary cheap galvanized iron nails rather than having to resortto either stainless steel or cadmium coated bronze nails which have tobe used at the present time in order to avoid weathering stainseventually appearing below each nail. Even withv the cadmium coatednails, the cadmium wears off in time and the. bronze head of each of thenails shows black, thus resulting in an unsightly appearance. These nailholes atv the same time are so located as to permit the nails to bedriven between tabs of the lower. course of shingles. With theV nailholes placed as shown in Figure 4,

shingles made from a24 x 24 blank can have a 7 exposure when laid, andthis may be reduced to 5" without difficulty. The curvature of theindividual shingles is also such that when the nails are driven, theywill slightly flatten the convex curve 5 (or in the butt of the shingleand thus resiliently hold the shingle tightly in nested, non-rattlingposition. Figure 3 `shows the overlying individual shingles, as laid,from which it may be observed'that, while the butt edge of each shinglecurves down toward the next lower shingle, the upper edge of the shinglecurves upward, facilitating upward sliding of this edge during nailing.At the same time the upper edge of the shingle fits underthe downcurvingbutt of the next higher shingle, thus producing a relativelytight-itting resiliently held superimposed set of shingle courses.

How the shingles actually appear when laid is typically illustrated inFigure Ll, from which it will be noted that the joints between shinglesin one course may be laid so as to come at the center of a full size tab3, thus againmaking an exceptionally tight and leak resistant assemblysuitable for either roong or siding. When a wall of this type of wideexposure shingles is laid up, it is exceptionally attractive and veryclosely simulates the pleasing appearance of the old style siding whichhas long been known as clapboard siding.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employedinstead of those explained, change being made as regards the meansherein disclosed, provided those stated by any of the following claimsor their equivalent be employed.

I, therefore, p-articularly point out and distinctly claim as myinvention:

1. A surface covering element, comprising a shingle having a tabbedupper edge and a relatively straight butt edge, said shingle having invertical section extending from the butt edge to the top of said tabbededge a relativelyshallow convex curved portion starting at the butt edgeportion thereof and continuing into a relatively shallow concave curvedportion terminating in the tabbed edge thereof.

2. A surface covering element, comprising a shingle having a tabbedupper edge and a relatively straight butt edge, said shingle having invertical section extending from the butt edge to the top of said tabbededge a relatively shallow convex curved portion starting at the buttedge portion thereof and continuing into a relatively shallow concavecurved portion terminating in the tabbed edge thereof, said tabbed edgehaving wide-base narrow-top tabs with at least one sloping side, therebeing at least one full size tab with one end of the shingle terminatingsubstantially at the midpoint of a sloping side of another tab, and theother end of the shingle terminating with a partial tab of approximatelythe same size as the missing portion of the tab at the other end of theshingle.

3. In a surface covering material adapted to be laid so as to simulateclapboard siding, the combination which includes a plurality ofsubstantially rectangular elements of the same size laid in superimposedoverlapping relation, each of said elements having a tabbed upper edgewith at least one full size tab and two partial tabs with a full sizehollow between tabs, each of said tabs having a wide base and a narrowtop with oppositely sloping side edges, said element terminating at oneend approximately at the midpoint of the sloping edge of a tab and atthe other end with a partial tab approximately the same size as themissing portion of the tab at the other end of the element, the buttedge of each element being relatively straight and having in verticalsection extending from the butt edge to the top of said tabbed edge arelatively shallow convex curved portion starting at that edge andcontinuing into a relatively shallow concave curved portion terminatingin the tabbed edge.

4. A surface covering comprising a plurality o'f substantiallyrectangular tabbed elements of the same size laid in superimposedoverlapping relation, the tabbed upper edge of each of said elementshaving at least one full size tab and two partial tabs with a full sizehollow between tabs, each of said tabs having a wide base and a narrow'top with oppositely sloping side edges, said element terminating at oneend approximately at the midpoint of the sloping edge of a tab and atthe other end with a partial tab approximately the same size as themissing portion of the tab at the other end of the element, the buttedge of each element being relatively straight and having in verticalsection extending from the butt edge to the top of said tabbed edge arelatively shallow convex curved portion starting at that edge andcontinuing into a relatively shallow concave curved portion terminatingin the tabbed edge, said elements being laid with their abutting sideedges substantially centered on full size tabs of the underlying courseof elements, each element being perforated for nailing under and alittle above the lower edge of the next higher course of elements, andbetween the tabs of the next lower course of elements.

HERBERT G. GOSLIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,971,932 Guiterman Aug. 28, 19342,115,222 Goslin Apr. 26, 1938 2,260,196 Rugen Oct. 21, 1941 2,307,751Abraham Jan. 12, 1943 2,417,899 Ashman Mar. 25, 1947 2,434,185Whitehouse Jan. 6, 1948

